NURSERY AND TODDLER PROGRAM

For the youngest students in our school, our goal is to provide a secure and nurturing environment, rich in new experiences.  Since young children learn best through loving relationships and purposeful play, developmentally appropriate activities are planned to support their cognitive, creative, language, social emotional, and physical skills at each age level.

Wesley Prep’s Toddlers' teachers design art and literacy activities for the students and create a classroom environment which provides opportunities for dramatic play, problem-solving, interpersonal growth, and sensory experiences. The children have the opportunity to explore both in the indoor playroom and on the outdoor playground for large motor exercise, balance and coordination, socialization, and unstructured play. 

Our Nursery and Toddler classes participate in ENRICHMENT daily by attending music class with our early childhood music teacher. This helps the students learn auditory discrimination through songs and sounds, develops their balance and coordination with movement, improves fine- and gross-motor muscle development with the use of musical instruments, and reinforces cognitive skills through musical rhymes and storytelling. 

Wesley Prep's Nursery class is designed for children who are ages 6 to 11 months when school begins in September, and our goal is to provide responsive care and love. Each baby has his or her own crib for naps and the opportunity for tummy time, crawling, and exploration in a safe and stimulating environment. In addition to music class, our Nursery students are strolled through the campus and outside in our school courtyard each day. 

PRESCHOOL PROGRAM

Our preschool program is play-based and utilizes a variety of methods to engage our students in the act of learning by doing. Manipulatives and hands-on activities are used by our teaching teams to bring relevance to the topics and units being taught in our preschool classrooms and to engage the children in meaningful and intentional ways, so the subject matter is known and experienced, rather than simply memorized. Circle time is a daily activity to introduce and teach concepts and skills, and teacher-designed centers can include science, art, math, blocks, and more. Formal curriculum is used in our PreK 3 and PreK 4 programs to introduce and reinforce foundational concepts in mathematics, pre-literacy, vocabulary, and handwriting instruction.

In our youngest preschool class, our PreK 2.5 program strives to develop a positive self-image, independence and responsibility for self, language and cognitive skills, and an appreciation of the arts and creativity. The PreK 3's are curious creatures, moving a little faster than their days in Toddlers class, but still very cautious. It takes a while before a 3-year-old sees himself as a member of a group. Three-year-olds love to touch everything around them and delight in praise. The PreK 4's are ready to be wowed. They are curious learners and are beginning to be independent thinkers. Though they range in personalities from shy to assertive, they all are curious and eager to see and touch everything around them and delight in a job well done.

Our preschool students also participate in ENRICHMENT such as music, art, PE, library, and chapel which help to cultivate their social emotional development, reinforce fine- and gross-motor movements, and promote language and literacy skills. Students build relationship skills through learning how to communicate and resolve conflicts in these areas as they practice working and learning together.

“Childhood is important and worth honoring. In an environment of creativity, conducive to social growth through play, we plant the seeds for a lifetime desire for learning.”

-Early Childhood Teacher